Return your laptop if you don't want it – Hopeson Adorye to 'NDC' teachers

Fixing The Country Ghana accuses NDC of seeking political points with teachers' laptop policy

Government covering 70% cost of One-Teacher-One-Laptop policy

One-Teacher-One-Laptop machines are of high quality says Fixing The Country Ghana

A leading member of the pro-New Patriotic Party group, Fixing The Country Ghana, Hopeson Adorye has challenged teachers who raised issues about governments One-Teacher-One-Laptop to return their laptops.

According

Read full article.to Hopeson Adorye, the government and the Ministry of Education, on its part, conducted due diligence before consenting to the agreement for the supply of the laptops; hence the grievances from teachers should be laid at the doorstep of the various teacher unions and not the government.

Speaking at a press conference held by Fixing The Country Ghana, Hopeson Adorye said teachers belonging to the opposition National Democratic Congress seeking to make propaganda out of the initiative should go ahead and return their laptops if they think the policy is bad.


"The teacher unions should be held responsible if there is anything wrong with the policy. If government has done something this good, and as a teacher belonging to the NDC, you want to keep doing your own things, it's up to you. If you don't appreciate what government has done for you but would rather work for the NDC and claim the laptop is not good, it is up to you.

"If the case is that you are an NDC teacher and you don't like the laptop we have brought, send it back and go for your book to write your lesson notes," he fumed.

He emphasized that the government saved the teachers money by negotiating a good deal to resource teachers in the country.

"What laptop will you get to buy for GHC1,500 on the market. If you go to the store to buy one for your personal use, you won't get one to buy at GHC1,500. Even the toys that children play with are not sold for such," he stated.

The government of Ghana is facilitating the distribution of laptops to teachers across the country under the One-Teacher-One-Laptop policy.

The supply of laptops to the teachers has become an issue with former Education Minister Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh being criticized for supposedly purchasing materials of inferior goods.

In an interview with Peace FM, NAPO debunked allegations that the government took the initiative to get the teachers the laptops.

"GNAT, NAGRAT and CCT [Ghana National Association of Teachers, the National Association of Graduate Teachers and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers] came to my office with a letter saying they had spoken with teachers, and they are going to buy computers and have signed a contract to give 280,000 teachers laptops," he said in an interview on Peace FM.


"They said they would be taking GH¢1,500. They asked that because of the new curriculum and teacher licensing, and teacher lesson notes, they needed laptops, so the government should help and pay some of the cost for the teachers."

As part of the policy agreement, the government is covering 70% of the cost of every laptop, while each teacher will take up the remaining 30% of the cost.